How to Fix a Door that Lets Out Heat

With winter rolling around and tough economic times, the name of the game for many people across the northern hemisphere is this: how to save money on heating in your home without investing in a new heater or breaking their back to improve their home. One of the best ways you can fix the problem is by attacking the key areas where your home is losing heat - and one of these areas is simple: your door.

Many doors today already come with weather-stripping that traps in air automatically with every time they're shut. But that's no guarantee your door has the same. Here's a quick guide to setting up weather stripping on your door.

One of the first things to do is consider the material you want to use: weather stripping is seen in rubber, foam, metal, and plastic. Go to a local hardware store and find the appropriate materials - but not without measuring your door fir so that you understand exactly how much weather stripping you'll be needing.

You can attach the stripping to the door as directed at your local hardware store - it's not a bad idea to ask for help if you're stuck here, especially when it comes to all of the different varieties of weather stripping available. Once you are ready to attach the stripping, go ahead and do it, being as thorough as possible and working to make sure everything stays symmetrical and relatively tight.

Once you've attached the weather stripping - and before you move on to the next door - test to see how well you've done. Some people do this by lighting a stick of incense near the door to see if there are any areas that are leaking air. Light the incense and go to the other side of the door - once there, if you see incense floating out, you need further stripping. Make sure you note where the incense is getting through so that you can fix the appropriate location on the door when you come back around.

After you have a handle on your weather-stripping abilities, go ahead and install weather stripping on all of the doors in your home that needs stripping. Now, you're all set! You can enjoy a more thoroughly-insulated home this winter; this means a tighter energy bill and a more peaceful state of mind. One more tip: keep the money you save on energy to invest in more home improvements!

Photo Credits: boboroshi

This post involves:

bad idea, doors, economic times, fir, hardware store, how to save money, incense, key areas, name of the game, northern hemisphere, rubber foam, traps, weather

... and focuses on:

Handyman, How to Fix, doors

Posted by Fix Handyman on December 24, 2009 in Handyman, How to Fix, doors. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.